But it was under-pressure Alan Pardew who was celebrating at the final whistle as Christian Benteke and James Tomkins struck within three minutes of each other during the first half before the Belgian grabbed a second late on.

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Benteke took advantage of a terrible mistake from Fraser Forster after 33 minutes to slot home before Tomkins found the back of the net moments later.

Palace’s £32million summer signing made sure his side left with all three points with another effort with six minutes remaining, giving the Eagles a bit of daylight from the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, Southampton remain rooted on 17 points and will surely be looking over their shoulder, with just six points separating them from the bottom three.

Palace fans showed their desire for Alan Pardew - a hero here as a player - to end his slump by chanting his name at kick-off

Pardew was missing the suspended Yohan Cabaye at the worst possible time on this hugely important day and his absence showed as Palace failed to create early on.

Saints gave Palace their first set-piece test after 22 minutes when Joe Ledley headed away James Ward-Prowse's left-wing effort - with Christian Benteke then clearing Sofiane Boufal's follow-up corner from the other flank.

Claude Puel’s team were shell-shocked by Palace's quickfire two-goal blast in the first-half because they hadn't conceded at all in the three previous domestic fixtures.

New England boss Gareth Southgate made his old stomping ground at Selhurst Park his first official scouting port of call - but it wasn't to check on Palace's Wilfried Zaha, who says he now wants to play for Ivory Coast despite playing two Three Lions friendlies.

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The stats wizards noted beforehand that Southampton had allowed opponents only 31 shots on target all season so it was particularly galling when they conceded both first half goals from less than three yards out.

James Tomkins has now scored three times in 11 games for Palace which is a far more rapid rate than the total of eight he managed in 206 appearances for former club West Ham.

Fraser Forster messed up a clearance to hand Palace their opener, so there were howls of optimism from the home fans when Oriol Romeu slipped him a dodgy back pass in the 54th minute - although this time the Saints 'keeper lumped it away.

Palace had not kept a clean sheet since an EFL cup tie against Blackpool on August 22 - so there were understandable nerves in the crowd as the minutes ticked away near the end at Selhurst Park.

Josh Sims was handed his second Premier League appearance for Saints as a second-half substitute and was close with a hooked shot just above the bar in the 66th minute.